HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  Historical Context

  THE PRESENT TEXT SEEMS TO INCORPORATE a variety of once independent sources (e.g., 4.24–26; 15.1–18; 20.2–17; chs. 21–23). The narratives of complaint during the wilderness trek (15.22–17.7) overlap with stories in Numbers; the plagues narrative (chs. 7–11) and Passover passage (ch. 12) manifest the kinds of duplication and dissonance that suggest the presence of different traditions. Details of the narrative often conflict or make little sense; for example, though the Israelites are said to live apart in Goshen (e.g., Gen 47.1–6; Ex 8.22; 9.26), they bor row valuable objects from their Egyptian neighbors (3.21–22) and the Lord must pass over Israelite homes to strike Egyptian households in the tenth plague (12.12–13). Comparison of Exodus with folklore and myth suggests the story is already the stuff of legend. Historical reconstruction is accordingly obstructed by a centuries-long process of literary formation that can hardly be retraced.

  Nevertheless, the sojourn of Israelites in Egypt, plagues, and crossing the sea and wilderness are traditions on which diverse biblical sources inside and outside the Torah agree. External considerations lead many to place the historical exodus in the late thirteenth century BCE during the long reign of Rameses II, when numbers of Western Semites are known to have inhabited the Nile Delta and when conflicts with foreign labor are reported. But there is no archaeological record of the exodus in Egypt, and historical references in Exodus are slim, vague, or problematic. On the other hand, a relatively large number of Egyptian personal names are found within the tribe of Levi (e.g., Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Merari, Putiel, Phinehas, Hophni). There is therefore a basis to surmise that ancestors of some Israelites, and particularly those associated with the priestly tribe, came out of Egypt. [EDWARD L. GREENSTEIN]

  EXODUS 1

  1These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of people born to Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt. 6Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. 7But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

  The Israelites Are Oppressed

  8Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

  15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” 17But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrewsa you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”

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  a Sam Gk Tg: Heb lacks to the Hebrews

  1.1–7 The prologue returns to a point prior to the conclusion of Genesis (see Introduction). The story of the Israelite population explosion in Egypt fulfills the Lord’s promise of numerous progeny to the patriarchs (Gen 13.16; 15.5; 22.17; 26.4; 32.13).

  1.1 Israel, the patriarch Jacob (Gen 32.29; 35.10).

  1.2–4 The list of Jacob’s sons separates the sons of his wives, Leah and Rachel, from those of his concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. Daughter Dinah (Gen 30.21; 34) is, like other women, omitted in this enumeration.

  1.5 Born to Jacob, lit. “coming out of Jacob’s thigh,” which was impaired (Gen 32.26, 32). Seventy, counting only Jacob’s sons and grandsons, a very close approximation.

  1.6 Joseph ’s death and mummification conclude Genesis. Generation, the unit of patriarchal periodization; cf. note on 12.40.

  1.7 Israelites, lit. “the sons of Israel” (cf. v. 1), but here referring to the “children of Israel” as a people. Fruitful and…multiplied. See Gen 47.27; cf. Gen 1.28; 9.1, 7; 17.6, 20. Prolific. The unusual Hebrew term (cf. Gen 9.7) connotes the proliferation of animals (e.g., Gen 1.21; 8.17; Ex 8.3). Israel’s populousness motivates the pharaoh’s attempts at genocide.

  1.8–22 The episode of the midwives recalls such fairy tales as “Snow White”: a monarch orders a servant of the opposite sex to murder a child of the monarch’s sex who is feared as a threat to the throne.

  1.8 The new king seems to initiate a new policy toward the Asian foreigners, but did not know might mean “did not care about” (the same Hebrew verb is translated took notice in 2.25). The king remains anonymous, although many identify him with Rameses II (ca. 1290–1224 BCE) on the basis of v. 11 and the mention of “Israel” within Canaan on a monument of the succeeding pharaoh, Merneptah (ca. 1224–1204).

  1.9 The Israelite people, in contrast to his (the king’s) people. Numerous…powerful, in Hebrew cognate to the verbs rendered multiplied and grew…strong in v. 7; both terms may refer to strength in numbers (cf., e.g., Num 32.1; Deut 26.5; Joel 1.6). The assertion that Israel outnumbers Egypt is surely hyperbolic.

  1.10 Shrewdly, lit. “wisely”—an earlier pharaoh had called Joseph incomparably “wise” (Gen 41.39); the king may resent Egypt’s debt to Joseph. Join, the same Hebrew verb (nosaf) as the name Joseph (yosef). Escape, lit. “go up,” more aptly referring to taking control (“rising over”) rather than leaving. Letters from Egypt’s agents in Canaan to pharaohs of the fourteenth century BCE at el-Amarna complain of landless “Apiru” joining forces with rebellious towns. Scholars have suggested a link between these landless folk and the “Hebrews,” a term that may be related to “Apiru.”

  1.11 They set. The king’s people cooperate. Taskmasters, lit. “officers of the corvée” (cf. 1 Kings 5.13–14). To oppress, used prophetically of the Egyptian bondage (Gen 15.13) and of Sarai’s affliction of Hagar (Gen 16.6, 9, 11). Pithom, Egyptian Per-Atum, “House of (the sun god) Atum,” and Rameses, “(House of) Rameses,” sites in the region presumably inhabited by the Israelites in the eastern Nile Delta, the latter possibly Qantir, but also possibly a first-millennium BCE city. Pharaoh, Egyptian Per-‘o, “Great House,” used to refer to the king of Egypt as though it were a proper name.

  1.12 They were oppressed, lit. “they (namely, the Egyptians) oppressed him (namely, the Israelite people),” emphasizing the Egyptians’ role. The more they multiplied. The Hebrew, ken yirbeh, mocks the pharaoh’s words in v. 10, pen yirbeh, or (“lest”) they will increase. Spread, the same Hebrew verb rendered “grew…rich” in Gen 30.43; Israel’s proliferation in the face of Pharaoh’s measures echoes Jacob’s increase despite Laban’s scheme. The Hebrew verb, which means lit. “to explode,” sounds like a contraction of were fruitful and prolific (v. 7), an ironic reversal of the pharaoh’s plan to contain Hebrew reproduction. Came to dread. Cf. Num 22.3.

  1.13 More precisely “The Egyptians made the Israelites work to the point of collapse,” a practice explicitly forbidden in Lev 25.43, 46; this is repeated in v. 14.

  1.14 Made…
bitter. See 12.8. Mortar, more likely “bitumen” as in another text tradition; the Hebrew words are spelled the same but vocalized differently (cf. Gen 11.3). Field labor, including digging irrigation canals (see Deut 11.10).

  1.15 Hebrew midwives. Despite the Semitic names of the midwives, the Hebrew may be interpreted as “midwives of the Hebrews,” i.e., Egyptian women serving the Israelites. Unlike the pharaoh, these heroic women are named.

  1.16 Birthstool, a distinctively Egyptian device. In ancient Israel ethnicity was patrilineal, so that eliminating the males suffices to wipe out the people.

  1.17 For the motif of a Gentile acknowledging Israel’s God, see 18.1–12; Gen 14.18–20; Num 24.1; Josh 2.10–11; 2 Kings 5.15; Jon 1.16. The midwives precede both Israel and Egypt in recognizing Israel’s national God as the true one.

  1.19 Vigorous, lit. “lively,” probably “quick.”

  1.20 Multiplied and became…strong, the same verbs as in vv. 7, 9; see note on 1.9.

  1.21 Families, lit. “house(hold)s.”

  1.22 All his people, and not only the midwives (see note on 1.15). Since all Egyptians are involved in the genocide, all Egyptian households will suffer the plagues (chs. 7–12). Every boy. See v. 16. Nile, Hebrew ye’or, “river” in Egyptian.

  EXODUS 2

  Birth and Youth of Moses

  1Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

  5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,b “because,” she said, “I drew him outc of the water.”

  Moses Flees to Midian

  11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. 12He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting; and he said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?” 14He answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.

  But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. 16The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defense and watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?” 19They said, “An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to break bread.” 21Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 22She bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, “I have been an alienc residing in a foreign land.”

  23After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

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  a Heb Mosheh

  b Heb mashah

  c Heb ger

  2.1–10 The story of Moses’ exposure and miraculous survival resembles diverse folktales of a hero’s birth, especially the legend of Sargon of Akkad (probably from the late eighth century BCE).

  2.1 The parents are unnamed as in folktales; they are identified as Amram and Jochebed in 6.20. A Levite woman, or, since in 6.20 Amram marries his father’s sister, “a daughter of (the tribal namesake) Levi.” Moses’ levitical pedigree is emphasized; cf. 6.14–27.

  2.2 That he was…fine, the same phrase rendered “that it was good” in the creation story (e.g., Gen 1.10, 12, 18). Baby, not in the Hebrew.

  2.3 Papyrus, a seaworthy material (cf. Isa 18.2). Basket, used only here and of Noah’s ark (e.g., Gen 6.14), another rudderless box under the deity’s protection. The Hebrew terms for papyrus, basket, and reeds are Egyptian loanwords. Plastered, from the same Hebrew root as “bitumen” (see note on 1.14); different from the term rendered “pitch” (Gen 6.14). The river, lit. “the Nile” cf. 1.22.

  2.4 His sister is unnamed, but later identified with Miriam, who is introduced as Aaron’s sister in 15.20 and cited as Moses’ sister in Num 26.59. Stood, more precisely “stationed herself.” Would happen, lit. “would be done.”

  2.5 The daughter of Pharaoh too is unnamed. The river, both times lit. “the Nile” see note on 2.3.

  2.6 He was crying, rather “and here: a lad crying,” indicating that that is what she saw. Children, lit. “boys.” Although “boy” in Hebrew is a generic term for “child,” she seems to recognize him as a boy. The daughter’s compassion contrasts with her father’s brutality.

  2.8 Girl, one who is past puberty (cf. Gen 24.43; Isa 7.14).

  2.9 Take, better “take away,” echoing “Go!” (rendered Yes) in v. 8.

  2.10 She took him as her son, lit. “he became a son to her,” an idiom indicating adoption. Moses in Hebrew means “the one who draws out,” not, as the punning princess implies, the one she has drawn out. The name may derive from Egyptian “child of” (e.g., Thutmose) and/or be related to the levitical clan of Mushites (e.g., 6.19; Num 3.20, 33; 26.58).

  2.11–22 Moses’ flight prior to a comeback as national deliverer parallels the stories of Jacob (Gen 27–33), Jephthah (Judg 11), and David (e.g., 1 Sam 20), as well as the extrabiblical stories of the Egyptian Sinuhe and the Syrian Idrimi (fifteenth century BCE). The flight eastward and dispute with the Hebrews anticipates the exodus and later confrontations (15.22–17.7; Num 11; 14; 16). The episode at the well in Midian (vv. 15–21) evokes a traditional motif (Gen 24; 29); the present version highlights Moses’ role as savior (v. 17).

  2.11 One day, rather “in those days” of oppression. His people, lit. “his brothers,” the same word translated his kinsfolk in the next sentence; Moses seems to identify with the Israelites. Their forced labor. See 1.11. Beating. The retributive plagues use the same Hebrew verb (translated strike; e.g., 3.20; 7.17, 20, 25; 8.16–17; 9.15; 12.12–13, 29).

  2.12 Killed, lit. “struck,” the same Hebrew word translated beating in v. 11. Hid, buried in the ground, a different Hebrew word from that translated hid/hide in vv. 2–3.

  2.13 Strike, the same Hebrew word translated beat in v. 11 and kill in v. 12.

  2.14 Kill, not the Hebrew term translated strike in vv. 11–13. Surely, contrary to what I thought (e.g., Gen 28.16).

  2.15 Kill, the verb used in v. 14. Midian. The Midianites, described in Gen 25.2 as nomadic offspring of Abraham and Keturah, range from the Sinai Peninsula to northern Arabia.

  2.16 Priest, probably a position of leadership, like Moses’ later role. Seven, a round number, characteristic of folktales.

  2.17 Came to their defense, rendered s
aved in 14.30, foreshadows the rescue of Israel.

  2.18 Reuel, meaning “Friend of God” in Hebrew, is of the same root as fellow (v. 13) and echoes the Hebrew ro‘eh, “shepherd” (v. 17). Different traditions name him Jethro (e.g., 3.1; 18.1) and Hobab (Num 10.29, where he is Reuel’s son); in Judg 4.11 he is a Kenite, traced to the nomadic Cain (Gen 4.12, 14); concerning the hypothesis of diverse sources, see note on 4.2–5.

  2.19 Egyptian. Raised in Pharaoh’s household, Moses still looks Egyptian. Drew water. Moses’ generosity recalls Rebekah’s (Gen 24.19).

  2.21 In marriage, lit. “as a wife,” added to the Hebrew text on the basis of some versions. There is a parallel in the Egyptian tale of Sinuhe.

  2.22 Gershom, interpreted by wordplay here and in 18.3 as ger-sham, Hebrew, “an alien there,” referring to Midian or possibly Egypt; the letters of the name also echo drove them away (v. 17).

  2.23–25 God’s renewed attention to the Israelites’ plight is conditioned by the covenant with Israel’s ancestors.

  2.23 A long time, lit. “in those many days” of Moses’ exile and/or Israel’s oppression; see v. 11. The king of Egypt died. The stage is set for Moses’ return; see 4.19. Slavery, the term rendered tasks and service in 1.13–14, a reference more to hard labor than to slavery per se. Cried out, supplication, not merely an outcry (e.g., Judg 3.9; 1 Sam 7.9; Ps 107.13; Jer 11.11–12; Jon 1.5); the plea is not directed to the Lord (cf. 14.10).